SUPER TYPHOON MEGI (MEANS “CATFISH” IN KOREAN) STRIKES THE PHILIPPINES THEN HEADS TOWARDS TAIWAN AND CHINA OCTOBER 22 Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of North Carolina, USA

Megi, known locally as Juan, was a category 5 super typhoon, the highest rating, with winds of more than 250 kph and a diameter of over 600 km when it made landfall at Sierra Madre’s Estagno Point in Isabela at 11:25 a.m. on Monday.

Megi was a low pressure storm that was larger and stronger than Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.

MEGI: A LOW PRESSURE STORM

MEGI: 600 KM ACROSS (NASA PHOTO)

EARLY FORECAST OF MEGI’S PATH

MEGI’S FINAL PATH (AS OF OCT 24 TH )

About 20 typhoons and tropical storms hit the Philippines each year, giving it the reputation as “the welcome mat” for the most destructive cyclones forming in the Pacific.

Megi, the 10th and strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, reached Isabela province on Monday morning (local time), October 18 th, and by early evening was heading west-southwest across the north of the main island of Luzon with winds of 180 kph.

MEGI LEAVING LUZON: MONDAY NIGHT, OCT 18

Megi tore roofs off houses, destroyed rice crops, toppled trees, ripped down power lines, triggered landslides in the mountains and whipped up huge waves..

On Tuesday (Oct 19 th ), in the Philippines, 7,000 people were sheltered in evacuation centers to avoid problems associated with the heavy rain fall; this number later swelled to 11,600..

Typhoon Megi affected more than 300,000 people, leaving an estimated 200,000 homeless..

MEGI’S WIND FIELD LEFT A PATH OF DESTRUCTION

HOUSES OF THE POOREST OF THE POOR DESTROYED

MEGI’S WIND TEARING OFF A ROOF

MEGI’S WIND TEARING OFF ROOFS OF GOVERNMENT HOUSES

Weather forecasters say that Megi produced 50 millimeters per hour of rain - similar to that produced in 2009 by Tropical Cyclones Ketsana and Parma when they struck the northern Philippines in 2009, causing massive devastation and over 1,000 deaths..

FLOODING

DOWNED TREES

MEGI’S WIND DOWNED TREES

MEGI’S WIND KNOCKING OUR POWER

MEGI’S WIND KNOCKED OUT POWER

MEGI’S WIND DAMAGES ROOF OF GAS STATION

PHILIPPINES HIT BY KETSANA, PARMA, MIRINAE: SEPT- NOV, ‘09

2009’s KETSANA: CAINTA RIZAL

2009’s KETSANA: QUESON CITY

2009’s KETSANA: PHILIPPINES; SEPT 23-30

2009’s PARMA: PHILIPPINES; OCT 9

2009’s PARMA: MUD FLOWS; OCT 12

2009’s MIRINAE: NOV 2

Initial estimates indicate that Megi destroyed/damaged over 6,100 homes.

Initial estimates indicate that Megi’s damage to infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries and schools in the Philippines reached 1.4 billion Philippine pesos ($32 million)..

Loss of communications made it impossible at first to estimate casualties, but data later indicated that loss of life was only about twenty-two people..

The apparent low death toll appears to have been the result of the Philippines Government's timely preparations for the storm..

MEGI: FORCAST TO REACH CHINA ON OCTOBER 22

The forecast was for Typhoon Megi to move to Taiwan and then towards the southern coast of China and Hong Kong, where rainfall since Sept. 30 th had already caused authorities to evacuate 140,000 from Hainan Island.

LANDSLIDES - SUHUA HIGHWAY, TAIWAN: OCT 21

HELICOPTER RESCUE FROM SUHUA HIGHWAY: OCT 21

BUT… the Philippines Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) was concerned that two high pressure ridges might cause Typhoon Megi to stall or even to make a U- turn and return to the Philippines.

While China evacuated 160,000 people and called in fishing boats before the expected onslaught of Megi on Friday (Oct 22 nd ), the storm brought heavy rainfall to Taiwan on Thursday (Oct 21 st ), which led to severe flooding and rock falls.

10,000 BOATS RECALLED IN FUJIAN PROVINCE: OCT 21

Although a little later arriving than initially forecast, Megi made landfall in Zhangzhou City in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian at 12:55 p.m. Saturday, October 23, 2010

272,300 were evacuated to safe havens before Megi’s arrival.

The storm is expected to move northward at 10 km per hour as it weakens and to dump an additional 100 mm or more of rain during the next 12 hours in addition to the mm or more that has already fallen in a broad area.

As a result of preparations in Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, no major casualties were reported after landfall.

Nevertheless, more than 647,900 people and 26,190 hectares of crops were affected by the typhoon, which flattened 500 houses, forced 313,200 people to evacuate their homes, and caused losses estimated at $238 million.